Oliver
Watson House
--on the Kingston campus of the University of Rhode
Island.
|
|
| Watson House is furnished in keeping with the period from the early 18th century to the mid 19th century. The main architectural feature, an eight foot square central chimney, provides the home with six fireplaces for the four bedrooms, keeping room, borning room and parlor. |
| Pictured here is the Peckham Room, or the front parlor, where the family kept their best furniture for special entertaining. Seen here is a Chippendale slant front desk originally owned by the Watson family |
 |
|
|
 |
The dining room is pictured above and to the left. | ||
The largest of the six fireplaces is in the Keeping Room, the main room of the house. All the cooking was done and the bread was baked in the beehive oven. There is a fine collection of cast iron pots and kettles on display. All household activity such as spinning, sewing, cooking, and baking was done in the Keeping Room . In the foreground a wagon bench can be seen. This rare piece of furniture dates circa 1780-1820.
 |
|
From a narrow front hallway, stairs rise steeply behind the large chimney to the second floor hallway.
|
|||
|
|
Adjoining the weaving room is the
Cusack Room, dedicated to Dr. Beverly Downing Cusack, late Dean of the |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
The beds all have rope springs and cornhusk mattresses covered with homespun material and topped with feather mattresses.
|
|||
 |
The second of the bed chambers contains a trundle bed. There is also a bed chamber chair (ca. 1930) and a child's playpen. |
|
|
| The loom on display in the third room on the second floor belonged to Quaker Billy Rose, a nationally known weaver from South County. |  |